KPBS: CPUC Sets Exit Fee, Paves Way For CCA In San Diego

October 12, 2018 – KPBS News – Brooke Ruth, Tom Fudge – The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday established a set of so-called exit fees for energy users when they stop being customers of SDG&E and other utilities.

The exit fees are paid by customers when they join a community choice aggregation program. The fee compensates the utilities for power it purchased in the past for the customers who then left their fold.

CCAs are created by cities and counties so those entities can decide on the sources of energy a community will use. The city of San Diego’s Climate Action Plan calls for San Diego to get 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2035. Many argue that a CCA is needed to help the city reach that goal.

Nicole Capretz, the founder of the Climate Action Campaign, said the fee is a price worth paying, to have the option of a having a CCA.

“We can still move forward as a city and all the cities in San Diego with a successful community choice program that will still offer affordable rates to San Diego families and finally give consumer choice to all San Diegans,” Capretz said.

A spokesman for San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said the CPUC action gives the city more information.

“We now have the clarity we’ve been waiting for to move forward with powering San Diego with 100 percent renewable energy,” he said.

Faulconer is expected to make a decision on creating a CCA in San Diego within the next few weeks.